Green Springtime

Hello friends, how was your week? I think it’s always fun to arrive at Saturday, when we scrap quilters can share our weekly playtime results with scraps. In May, we are working with all shades of green for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

It had been a couple weeks or more since I’d sewn any string blocks, so that was my primary focus for my sewing time this week. You know, scratch that sewing itch! I truly wish I could’ve had more time to sew and foregone all the doctor appointments, errands, shopping and chauffeuring as well, but yeah… no. Life doesn’t work that way. But on the bright side, I’ll be having a cataract removed in a few short weeks, I bought a couple dozen luscious perennials to plant in the courtyard, and I’ve got loads of strawberries in the freezer just waiting to be made into jams and strawberry-rhubarb compote. 

The week started out with me tackling my largest string pile of all the colors - greens. It ended with 52  6.5” green string blocks. That will give me three 15-count batches of green strings to take to Quilts for Kids this morning, along with the red ones I sewed last month. The extra seven will either go into the Orphanage to wait until next year or may find their way into a green scrap quilt I’m working on for Green May. 

Once the green strings were sewn, I began piecing together the first of the Rainbow Candies flimsies. My original plan was to sew all the blocks in the same orientation. However, I messed up when I sewed row 2, so I had to pay extra close attention as I sewed each subsequent row to maintain the pattern. And paying attention is not my strong suit. But I actually like it better! I think alternating the direction adds more movement to the top. 

I’ll sew the other blocks into the second Rainbow Candies top this next week, sewing gods willing. 

I’m sewing 48” columns from my green scraps. The column on the very left, given to me as 4-rail blocks, are about an inch short. But I have a couple more strips of those fabrics to even it out. It’s been fun  planning out this green top, and the tentative plan is to make it 40x48”. But I’m toying with the idea of turning it 90 degrees making it a 48x54” quilt of green rows! We’ll just have to see what the fabrics determine!

It was a crazy-busy day yesterday (Friday), and I wasn’t able to sneak any sewing time in until almost supper time. In my sewing room as I waited for the chicken to finish baking, Alfie joined me feeling very needy for attention. So when he insisted on helping me plan out my two Halloween blocks for the month, who was I to argue?

Alfie, helping

I’ve got to get moving along this morning. Quilts for Kids starts soon. I’m already packed up but it will take me about 25 minutes to drive to this month’s location. Later this afternoon and evening, we’ll be at my son and DIL Kim’s place where my son Ryan is cooking birria tacos. We are belatedly celebrating my granddaughter Lauren’s birthday (last month), Bruce’s belated birthday (last week) and Mother’s Day for Kim and me. The whole fam-damily will be there. 

Happy Mother’s Day to those of you who celebrate. Have a great week!

Giving Scraps the Green Light

Green gets a green light in the sewing room this month. May is not only green outside (it’s so beautiful here in the Salt Lake Valley in May!) but we’ll be working with our green fabric scraps inside for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge all month. And I’m down for it!

But first I wanted to finish up the quilting and binding on the two quilts I basted last week so I could put them down as April finishes. And I did. But it’s hard to get pictures when you only have a one-armed Quilt Holder (my hubby Bruce had an arm amputated due to cancer from Agent Orange in Vietnam). And it’s also very bright outdoors, so we had to find some shade or dappled sun so I could snap some pictures. Given the results of these photos, I think I’ll be taking the photos indoors or on cloudy days from now on.  But I’ll share these photos now, for better or for worse. 

This string quilt pattern came to me from my friend Nann of With Strings Attached, who thought it up. Big thanks (and hugs) to you, my friend! 

The backing is green with a bright insert that seemed to fit the vibe of the quilt. As usual, I quilted this string quilt in a basic meander/stipple. I always feel that’s best for coverage in a string quilts. The working title for this quilt was “Nann’s Strings”, but its final name is “Nann’s Heart Strings” because of the very recent passing of her husband.  Nann, what a wonderful companion and caregiver you’ve been to Stevens. May this silly little quilt also give comfort to someone else - all because of you! 

The second finish for April was this purple diamonds quilt. I absolutely could not get the color accurate with my iPhone camera. It’s less of a red-purple and more of a blue-purple. But that’s OK, I guess. It’s done and will be heading off to our Quilts for Kids workshop next weekend. 

I had just enough of the purple fabric to finish the backing and binding. That is, with the addition of the little bit of blue in the back. 

And then - green sewing! Fifteen Switchplate blocks that will finish at 3x5”.

And here they are with all their friends that I’ve sewn this year. We haven’t quite reached the halfway point with these yet, but they’re shaping up.

I started sewing the side sashing to the Rainbow Candy blocks. But of course I sewed the second row bass-ackwards from the first row. No problem, I thought. I’ll just flip the row. Um… no. It’s still the wrong orientation and then the two greens would be neighbors. So I will be alternating the direction of the candies every row. 

I’ll continue with this during the week, as well as sewing its twin with the other half of the candy blocks. And I’ve pulled out all my green strings for some nice string piecing this week too. I loves me some mindless string piecing (key word there being “mindless”).

This week was another doozy. Sometimes I just want to run away to a nice tropical island, lay under a tree sipping Margaritas and napping. (Who’s with me?)

Anyway, we sold our second car this week, but it entailed a lot of phone calls and running around. It was three days of chaos, then done. And I even remembered to promptly cancel the insurance on it. My friend T is coming home from the hospital today, YAY!! We are so relieved, I can’t even believe how much her illness has worried us. But one of our neighbors passed away this week. Another friend, Joan, had her daughter visiting from Connecticut, and they invited me over for lunch one day, then sent me home with cake for Bruce. 

My grandson Easton is getting married next April. Right now Easton and his fiancé Madalyn live in Connecticut (yes, a lot of Connecticut people in this post, right Julierose?) and he is in the Navy. His mom, my daughter-in-law Kim, and I talked about colors and theme for their wedding quilt. So, I’m going to attempt a Storm at Sea with a Snail’s Trail block variation in the center of some blocks instead of the large square-in-square economy block center. This is my inspiration photo from Pinterest:

I have an Accuquilt Storm at Sea die, which I can use for all the diamonds and small economy blocks (I’ve checked sizes) then I’ll piece all 36 of the 6.5” Snails Trail centers separately. Right now, the hunt is on for a line drawing to color up so I can figure color placement and yardage amounts. We have a quilt show coming to town in a couple weeks, and I plan to buy the needed batiks it all at once. This quilt has been on my bucket list for years. I hope I’m finally capable of pulling it off. If not, there’s always simple patchwork to fall back on!

Have a great and relaxing week!

Basting Quilts and Sewing Red Scraps

Not much sewing happening here this week. I was busy with a lot of HOA business; monthly Board meeting, preparing the May newsletter for publication, and delivering safety pamphlets (furnished by our local police department) to the residents. It was nice to get out, walk in the sunshine and visit with friends. And I got to meet neighbors I hadn’t met before. Several homeowners in our 72-unit condo community are only here in the warmer half of the year. 

But there was some sewing, so let’s get to it. First up, I sewed five Paint Chip blocks.

Next, I tackled the red crumbs and came up with a few 6.5” crumb blocks.

Pretty slim pickings, eh? Nothing was done on the wrapped candy quilts, but I’ll start them in a week or so after I quilt the next two quilts that I basted this week (only one of which I remembered to snap a photo of).

Here is Purple Diamonds (above) on my kitchen island, about to be pin basted. I also pinned up my Nann’s Strings quilt. My goal is to have those two finished for next week’s post. 

I was one of the lucky winners in the Stay at Home Round Robin’s prize drawing this year - first time in four years of participation. But who’s counting, right? I won this beautiful Island Batik bundle of 20 fat quarters! It’s called Shadow Blooms. 

Oh, have I got plans for these! Thank you so much to the ladies who help run this sew-along. I can’t wait until next year!!

Here is Alfie (Sir Alfalfa) living his best life:

Not much else going on here. This morning Bruce has agreed to accompany me to our favorite nursery/garden center, where we are going to pick out some annuals and perennials for the garden. I also want to find some nice leaf mulch or rich compost to amend the soil in our courtyard. I’ve got to remove all the dang bark mulch first and hopefully the pinkish scalloped stone borders (circa last century). But the soil level is higher than the surrounding courtyard walkways, so that may require some work in the form of digging and hauling dirt or replacing the borders with a more neutral stone border. I also want to get lots of little potted flowers and veggie starts for the Greenstalk vertical planter too. 

Greenstalk vertical planter, photo from 2024

Last year I planted seeds in the Greenstalk, which didn’t do well with the light patterns in the courtyard and the deep planting pockets. Plant starts that rise above the top edge will capture more light and will make a big growth difference - at least I hope so! And I’ll be pruning the tree, too. 

T, you’re still in my heart and prayers. Get better soon!! 

Linking to Scrappy Saturday and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Seeing Red

I was seeing red this week - all over my sewing room. Red is the color we’re working with for April in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I have plenty of red scraps. Hopefully, by the end of the month I’ll have lots fewer red scraps and lots more red blocks to add to kid donation quilts. 

This month I made three Weathervane blocks because the reds in my stash have multiplied tremendously over the last year. 

The Weathervane below is my favorite of the bunch, but the camera could not catch the actual shade of the center square, nor could I manipulate the photo to get it to read correctly. In real life, it’s not bright, but rather close to the background color of the other two reds in the block. 

These blocks are so enjoyable to sew! Which of the three do you like best?

I also sewed thirty string blocks that will finish at 6”. They are pinned here in two groups of 15 for our chapter of Quilts for Kids to use in kit making. I figured you didn’t need to see every single block - they’re all pretty much the same. (You’re welcome!)

One of my monthly goals moving forward is to sew up one or two sets of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks into quilts. This month I’m focusing on the crumb candy blocks I made as one of my 2023 RSC blocks.  There will be enough for two quilts if I sash them like this (pretend the sashing is pinned all round). I had a black background fabric that has various types of candies and other confections scattered over it, but I didn’t want that stark contrast with these blocks. So I went hunting for a cute rainbow-effect print that would tie all the colors together. 

 

Here’s a close-up of the print that I purchased from one of my favorite online fabric sources, Hancock’s of Paducah. They have a killer sale section. Anyway, it’s a Moda fabric that reminds me of Skittles or Chicklets. I’ll use it for the sashing, borders and binding on both quilts and for at least one of the backings. Both if I have enough. I think I bought 5 yards. 

Next week I have two quilts (Purple Diamonds and Nann Strings) that need to be pin basted and quilted. There is certainly no lack of projects and goals in my little sewing room!

We’re busy working with the VA again to get an additional (revised and updated) rating on Bruce’s CLL (leukemia). He is chronically fatigued, so after his May doctor visit, we’ll have a better idea where that all is headed. And we’ll be applying for caregiver benefits as well. Right now our biggest thorn is getting our hands on documents from previous marriages. But we’re working on that too. As if that weren’t enough, I’ve got a writing assignment to finish over the weekend for the HOA (long story, too boring). And then there is Easter. I’m fixing a turkey, making a pie - a semi-fancy meal for the two of us. I hope your celebration is however you want it - lively and fun or quiet and peaceful. Ours will be the latter. 

To my dear friend T - you are in my heart, my thoughts and my prayers. K is giving us daily updates. And I hope she brings you your Mountain Dew! xoxoxo

Adventures in Sewing and Representing

 It was quite a busy, even hectic week. As you may remember, Ruby and I planned to attend the Hands Off! Protest rally at the Utah State Capitol last Saturday. Well, we certainly did that, and I’ve got some pictures at the end of the post to share. It was an inspiring and long day!

But first, let’s tend to our red sewing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s color of the month for April.  I sewed ten of these 6.5” flying geese blocks. I’m loving that these are set against black - a great way to use some of the scraps that have been waiting patiently (for years,) for their turn under the needle. 

And since there are now four colors done, here they are for a group photo. I kept the number of pink blocks to a minimum because I’m wanting this to be a masculine or at least gender-neutral quilt eventually.

Last week I showed some half square triangles that had been donated to Quilts for Kids that they’d asked me (a year ago) to sew into a quilt. The 288 squares ended up making 72 blocks, which I alternated with the print on the inside for half and the print on the outside for the other half. It was a lot of repetitious sewing, but I enjoyed every moment of it. The HST’s were waste triangles that had been nicely sewn together and trimmed. I maintained their open-seam pressing and continued on that way. Before I knew it, the blocks were sewn, the blocks were put up on the design board and the top was webbed. It took less than a half hour to sew the last rows together, and it was given a good pressing.

Quilt measures 48.5 x54.5”

Today Cousin Kim and I are going to our Quilts for Kids workshop. I’m taking this as a top so they can perhaps find a backing for it. Ruby and her sister Cathy have a new longarm machine, and they’ve started quilting for QFK. So I have six of their quilts to take, along with several of mine. I’m hoping to get a nice backing for this so I can take it back to Ruby and have her quilt it. I want to see it completed! 

Next it was on to making two more blocks for my Halloween Quilt.  I have several 12” quilt block pictures I printed out from Pinterest, and these are the two I selected to do this month. I quickly graphed them out, created cutting sizes and quantities, and then had fun picking out the fabrics. The first one was rather complicated, but I was definitely up to doing all the HSTs after sewing the purple diamonds quilt top. 

The second block was so easy in comparison, it practically sewed itself. And then, since I’ve reached the halfway point of sewing the blocks that will surround the quilt panel, I had to see what it all looks like so far. 

This is not intended to be the final layout; the actual placement of the blocks will be determined once they’re all sewn. Except the bats. The four corners will each have a bat block. What do you think so far? I’m not totally in love with the batty background fabric - my preference would’ve been to have something slightly smaller in scale or with less contrast . But it is what it is, and there’s no going back now. 

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As threatened, or promised, here are some photos of the Hands Off! Protest rally that Ruby and I attended last Saturday. It was my first-ever protest (I was too young back in the sixties or early seventies), but Ruby had attended protests before. When we got there, she asked me where I wanted to be, and I said that I wanted to be right up in the thick of it. And so, over the first half hour, we wandered closer and closer to the Capitol steps, taking pictures and talking with a lot of people. 

This photo below is out of sequence, because it was taken while we were on the Capitol steps, behind the speakers. But I wanted to capture the scale. It was estimated that there were about 10,000 people there, but we both thought it was more in the range of 8,000. All the grass area in front was filled with people.

We asked someone to take our picture, and she graciously did so. The speaker at this time is standing behind the red poster just above my head. (Below). It was a beautiful, perfect sunny and warm spring day!

Everywhere, people had brought signs - some clever, or artistic; others were professionally produced or even a bit provocative. Lots of poop emojis (or costumes). People were there to advocate for their pet concerns - Medicaid, veterans, Social Security, USAid, health and science, public lands, and on and on.

I sat and talked with Lou, the veteran in the bottom left of the photo below. He served in Vietnam in the Army Intelligence just like Bruce, he was there about four or five years before Bruce, so they didn’t know each other. But we had a great conversation and I thanked him for his service. 

And I talked to the lovely Canadian woman in the picture below. She also carried a Canadian flag, but it’s not visible in the picture. She said the Canadians know that the American people are not being accurately represented by the current Trump regime. “We Canadians know you hate him as much as we do!”

And then there were the “Special Attendees” (wink), like the slightly battered Statue of Liberty…

And “Jesus”, who was doing an interview in this photo…

Yep, we made good trouble, with lots of great speeches and cheering and booing and chants…

When it was over, Ruby and I waited for the crowds to dissipate before we began driving off. We had parked her car behind the Capitol ahead of time early in the morning. On our way out, I snapped this picture with just a few people still milling around the grounds. And then it occurred to me that there was NOT ONE piece of trash on the lawn or grounds anywhere. Come to think of it, there were no misspelled signs, either. 

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on that!! Have a great week, friends! 

Hands Off!

Today my friend Ruby and I will be attending the Hands Off! Rally in Salt Lake City. We’ll be joined by thousands of people there and at 9 other venues just in the red podunk State of Utah. Rallies will be held today in hundreds of locations throughout all 50 states in the USA. The link above to Hands Off! Is where you can check to find a location near you. These rallies are meant to be peaceful protest gatherings to tell Trump and Musk to keep their hands off…. you name it: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, HUD, CDC, NIH, NPR, PBS, HHS - a whole alphabet of departments and agencies that affect our daily lives. Oh heck, can we add the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P to it? This Administration Regime is a total clusterF**, or as Bruce calls it, a “Cluster Foxtrot”. It will take this country years, if not decades, to recover from the damage that those two blackguards have wrought in the last 75 days. The world’s trust in the USA will take well beyond our lifetimes to rebuild. It’s a pitiful state of affairs. 

Despite the train wreck that this week was nationally, I managed to get some sewing done. Not as much as I’d hoped, though, because I had an HOA newsletter to get out, a dentist appointment (semi-annual cleaning and check-up; no cavities for either of us!), some sewing for a friend (long story that I won’t go into, but I did get a wonderful new houseplant in thanks), lots of errands, and a deep cleaning of my sewing studio. Oy! 

The month of April will be dedicated to sewing our RED scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC). I did get to spend some time on Wednesday afternoon sorting scraps and cutting pieces for my RSC blocks this month, and even managed to sew up the easiest ones, the Switchplate blocks. Here are the twelve I finished.

These will finish at 3x5”, and with these twelve I now have a plan to sew a total of  117 for a 13x9 layout that will measure 39x45”. A small child’s quilt. My total so far for the year is 48 sewn. I should hit the halfway mark next month, a good pace.

There was no string sewing for me this past week (See? I told you the world was going nuts!). But in cleaning out my sewing room, I unearthed a bag of  3.5” half-square triangles (HST’s) given to me by my friend Sandy, who is President of the Salt Lake Quilts for Kids chapter, about a year or so ago. I decided to sew them up and donate it back to QFK as a top. I matched the HST’s up into sets of four to make a square-in-a-square block. There are enough HST’s to make 72 blocks at 6.5” each, unfinished size. I managed to get 36 of them sewn, so I’m halfway there. What I’m doing is alternating the prints and solid fabrics in the blocks. The solid is a shot cotton of blue and red threads that make a purple. I have always strongly disliked shot fabrics - I avoided shot silks altogether when I was a crazy-quilter - but this time we’re getting along OK. Here are the blocks so far:

I’ll donate this back to QFK as a top, not a finished quilt. I want these off my plate and I have no appropriate fabric for a backing. I have to say, though, that I have enjoyed the repetition of sewing these; very Zen-like (along with the music of Dan Fogelberg in the background) as I zone out of the world issues and zone into my sewing. The finished top, which I hope to complete this week in time for our QFK workshop on the 12th, will measure about 48x54”. 

That’s all I have for this week, friends! I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday, where I’m going to go check out what red blocks the other scrappers have sewn up. Also sharing at Sew Preeti Quilts this week for TGIFF - Thank Goodness it’s Finished Friday! Have a good week!

Some Quilt Finishes and More String Blocks

Before I dive into my sewing and quilting for the week, I have some good news. We had a sum of money deposited into our account by the Veteran’s Administration! I think Bruce was approved for Vietnam-area disability benefits (not to be confused, I’m learning, with ongoing healthcare benefits. We were denied the healthcare benefits, as previously whined about, hehe). Anyway, we have not received anything in writing from the VA detailing the payment made or the monthly benefit amount, but we expect it hopefully next week. It is most welcome, even if it appears to be less than what we were initially told to expect if approved. Time will sort it all out.

Now, on to sewing. This week, I finished the quilting and binding of the last two Community Quilts as organized through Jo at Jo’s Country Junction blog. These are the last two that were generously donated by Susan L of Iowa. I saved the best for last, and these two were absolutely delightful to quilt and study.

The first one is a girly Rail Fence quilt. I had to quilt this one in loops and hearts. 

Truly, the pictures don’t do these quilts justice. The fabrics in the rail fence have sparkles and just radiate spring joy! 

The second one is a masterwork of scrappy piecing. I love the navy polka dot fabric that sets the blocks off to perfection! I quilted it with a basic stipple.

Thank you for entrusting me with these beauties, Susan. They will be donated to the Salt Lake Chapter of Quilts for Kids at our April workshop. 

Now it’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge time and I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday. The last block of my monthly makes is the one I call Paint Chips. Here are the five of these 8.5” (unfinished) that I made in yellows. 

And here are all three of the colors for this year so far. I wanted to see what these looked like together, and I am pleasantly surprised at the pattern that results. It’s better than I had hoped. Naturally, more colors and blocks will look better. And I have no idea what the actual finished pattern will be. I see so many possibilities. Oh, and the pattern of color and neutral varies from block to block. 

A quick note - if you didn’t see my (rare) mid-week post, I joined up with the final Parade of Quilts for the 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin. My post showing and describing the quilt is HERE, and the quilt parade, which I highly encourage you to check out, is here at Gail’s blog. 

Cathy’s 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin Quilt

And let’s not forget the strings! I finished the last twelve 8.5” string blocks, which I call Nann Strings, after my friend Nann of With Strings Attached, who came up with this block and sewed a stunning quilt. 

Here are my blocks slapped up on the design wall. I’ll sew them all together next week. 

I recently acquired some fabulous scraps from a Friend With Very Good Taste (Wanda). I’ve spent some - but not nearly enough - time this week fondling and sorting them. I started going through my quilt kits and trying to match up fabrics with them. But I’d see one fabric, dive through the kits searching for something in those colors, then get distracted by another kit or fabric. Before long, I had piles and fabrics and orphan blocks everywhere on tables, chairs, the floor and also draped over the sewing machines and ironing board. It was such a chaotic mess that I realized I was never going to make any progress that way. So I put it all away and have devised a plan to move it all out to my kitchen island and go through it methodically there. That kitchen island is so big, that I’m afraid Trump is going to want to take it for its strategic value, hehe! Kidding. Sorta. 

And speaking of the T-word, here’s a cute picture I borrowed from former Labor Secretary (under Clinton) Robert Reich. Some women attorneys from Tennessee are commenting on the leaked military attack plans and other facepalm actions of the T regime: 

Have a great week, friends. And if you can’t do that (because you read or listen to the news), then at least stay healthy and safe! xo